Between your world and mine
by Sandrine C
Summary: Sometimes second chances are more complicated than simply letting go. Susan and Caspian are allowed to meet again but there's a high price to pay. Will they overcome or is it just not meant to be?
1. Chapter 1

**White Space**

**Disclaimer: The characters and other things from The Chronicles of Narnia don't belong to me (sadly). Credit goes to those who do own them.**

"How much do you think we'll remember this time?" the queen asked the king next to her

"Maybe everything, maybe the beginning or just the end, I don't know. Last time I remembered nothing. I thought I had a dreamless sleep." Caspian said

Susan nodded and stared at the horizon. The sun was setting now and the waves turned crimson as their borrowed time came to a close. She sighed as she let the remaining rays warm her face.

"Where do you think we'll be next time?" she asked, trying to suppress the feeling of longing growing within her. She had yet to say goodbye and already she missed him.

"Is it my turn to choose already? Maybe at a field or a mountain top?" Caspian answered with a smile thinking about the other times they met months after she first left him, "It doesn't matter, as long as I see you again."

Susan nodded and hugged her knees to her chest. She wanted to memorize this moment, the feeling of the sand beneath her, the water kissing the tips of her toes and the face of the man beside her. But she knew that she will not remember much or at least know that this is all real.

"They worry about me you know. I tend to withdraw within myself, try and shut it all out. I end up pretending more and more that this is not real just to rid myself of the ache of missing you. I live through so much lies to protect my heart and waking up each time from this, whatever this is that we have once in a while, is torture."

"I know. This just makes me miss you even more, agonize more about why you can't return to Narnia" Caspian said, "But I'll take it over nothing at all."

Caspian put his arms around her and held tight as if wanting to never let her go. They had an hour, maybe two but no more, yet he chose to pretend they had all the time in the world.

"How did you take it when Edmund, Lucy and Eustace returned?" he asked

"I ignored them. I told them they were silly then I went to my room and listened through the door," she said smiling slightly before frowning as she remembered a particular detail in that story.

"You met someone." Susan said—a statement not a question.

"Yes," he answered, "a lot of people. It was quite a voyage. You should have listened a bit longer through the door."

Susan rolled her eyes and punched him lightly. Caspian laughed and pulled her closer to him.

"The daughter of the star cannot hold my attention the same way you do. There is no need to worry." Caspian said trying to erase the tinge of jealousy he could see in the queen's eyes

"They said you would return for her and they wondered if you would make her your queen." Susan said

Caspian kissed the side of her head and kept her in his embrace as he spoke. "I had every intention of doing that—going back for her. But I don't think I will now."

"Why?" Susan asked her voice thick with emotion.

"Didn't you wonder why it took too long for us to meet again?" Caspian asked.

"They're dreams remember? At least that's how I see it in that world so I didn't think anything was amiss. I assumed I just slept well those nights," she replied

"Alright, the _dreams_," he emphasized, "stopped for a while when I met her and for a time after. It was a subtle change but I noticed that after a while I began to forget about you. I didn't think it was possible until it happened."

"So you're letting her go because of your dreams?" she said laughing a little at the absurdity of it all.

"No, I simply choose to keep you in my life, in whatever way possible," he said simply

"Don't you think that's a bit foolish? Not going on with your life because of an imagined reality?" she asked

"I should ask you the same thing, dear Susan. How are you moving on? Pretending Narnia is in your childish imagination or that I don't exist doesn't count." Caspian replied with raised eyebrows

Susan laughed. "Well played, your majesty," she said, "We're quite a pair aren't we? We're just stuck in the moment. We're trying to hold on to something that doesn't exist in the realities we live in."

"That's what happens when you fall for someone you're not supposed to." Caspian said, "You just stand still and hope the moment lasts forever."

"What if we make a move?" Susan asked

"I don't want to find out," he said simply, "Time's up my dear queen. The world is waiting for us to forget this day ever happened."

Caspian stood and held out both hands to help Susan. He kept their hands entwined as he stared at her, memorizing her features as best he could. He wanted to hold on if that would be enough to keep them from going back to their lives. He missed her a little bit more each time they separated and he wished that somehow they'd meet in his world or hers—anywhere but here where nothing seemed to last longer than a day.

"It's okay. You can move on." Susan said with a deep breath, "It must mean something that her presence made you forget for a little while. You might miss out on the life you're supposed to have. I can't stand in your way."

"You're not and don't ever think you are. It's my decision to keep love you even if I'm not allowed to have you in my life the way I want to. This is enough for me. I'll take what I'm given."

"Will you still love me when you wake up and find yourself in need of a queen?" she asked, pragmatic as always

"Yes."

"Will you still love me when you're holding your child, yours and hers, in your arms?"

"Yes."

"Will you still love me when her life is on the line and she calls out for you?"

"Yes."

"No," Susan said lifting a hand to his cheek, "You will go to her, be her husband and the king Narnia needs. And I will go back to my life because we won't remember this day or the ones before it. I won't remember ever telling you I love you or hearing you say it back. I'll know what it is to miss you and believe that you're off to find someone else. You will only know the ache of seeing me go and the belief that what you're doing is best for your kingdom."

"I still love you," he said, "Even if I never saw you again, I still would."

"I know but it's time for goodbye and it won't hurt to think this is the last time." Susan said with tears in her eyes

"Goodbye my queen." Caspian said before leaning in for a kiss, their hearts beating in time with each other.

And then it was over.

The white space returned them to their worlds with their memories clean and they were left to believe it was nothing more than a dream. They left a place that is neither here nor there, neither Narnia nor London. It can hold nothing and everything at once in a suspended state that feels like an eternity but in reality is merely a second. The world is open only to a chosen few but how or why, no one really knows. It is a gift and a curse. It allows you to live a fantasy but once you are set free nothing remains in your mind but the illusion of a dream—at least until the next time you are received in its borders.

Susan opened her eyes and thought only of the things she had to do that day. She saw the list of chores in her mind and how much she looked forward to getting away from her family even just for a few hours. She did not care to be part of the game they played. She did not want to remember the world that she could never return to.

Caspian woke up on the Dawn Treader and wondered how far they were from that island. He thought of what he would say and what would happen next. He wanted to be a good king and he wondered if he found a worthy queen or if he was just trying to forget the one he held on a pedestal.

They did not know the truth. They did not understand why their lips tingled and why they could still feel the warm embrace of another. They only took refuge in the old familiar feeling of wanting what they couldn't have and loving the one they should forget.


	2. The road not taken

**The road not taken**

**Disclaimer: The characters and other things from The Chronicles of Narnia don't belong to me (sadly). Credit goes to those who do own them.**

Susan was living a life on the verge of tears and she was tired of it. The charade had taken its toll on her and she wanted nothing more than to just leave it all behind. She wanted to feel close to her siblings again instead of living on the other side of the wall she built around herself. However, she could not yet find the crack that would allow her freedom from her self-imposed prison.

Breakfast was another silent affair as she set the table while Peter attempted to cook pancakes, which he clearly could not. Edmund wrestled with making fresh orange juice or simply serving water as Lucy collected all the syrup, spreads and other condiments she could find, both useful and otherwise. With their parents out on a brief day trip, no one was around to coax them into pretending to be cordial with each other so early in the day. There was no audience to their show and so they remained mute.

They sat around the small table as quietly as possible and began to eat. Susan absentmindedly took off her slippers beneath the table and swung her legs casually as she gathered the courage to speak. There was a feeling growing inside her that made her feel like there was something she should say. There was a word hanging on the tip of her tongue that refused to drop. The precise moment she opened her mouth was when Lucy realized she had forgotten the marmalade, stood up too quickly and knocked over her glass of water.

The thoughts in Susan's mind shifted in a direction they never should have the moment cool water splashed on the tips of her toes. A tingle went down her spine as her body registered the feeling, a memory she should not have. Flashes of a beach, the water flowing and ebbing before her and a presence she missed greatly. The Susan who had sat down on that table would have brushed aside the feeling but the one who had opened her mouth just seconds before refused to back down. A face flashed in her mind and the name slipped from her lips before she could stop it.

"Caspian."

Three pairs of eyes turned to her, none of them interested in the empty glass that looked about to roll off the table any second. They heard Susan loud and clear but they could not believe it just the same. They waited for their sister to shake her head and pretend nothing happened but she sat there wide-eyed as if waiting for the man she called out for.

Susan heard herself and knew the shock she created around her but it mattered not to her as she searched her mind for an explanation. Why had she associated the incident, so trivial and mundane, to the man she had spent months trying to forget? Why had she not yet corrected her slip? And why does she feel like she's losing him a second time?

"Susan? Are you alright?" Peter said gently, placing a hand on Susan's shoulder

"No." Susan said in a hollow voice

"What's wrong then Su?" Edmund asked

Susan merely shook her head as the wheels continued to turn in her head. She pushed back her chair, scraping the floor beneath it, and moved to clean the spill. She wiped at the wet spot even after it was already dry, as if it held the answers she sought.

Lucy placed a hand on her sister's and stopped her from moving. Without words, the youngest in the family pleaded with Susan who gave in and sat down again with a rueful smile on her face.

"I'm sorry." Susan said softly

"For what?" Peter asked

"I just….I can't…I'm just sorry okay," Susan said haltingly before fleeing from the kitchen and running outside.

Susan sat on the stone bench just beneath the tall oak tree in their backyard, knees to her chest as she rocked back and forth struggling with her thoughts and memories. She closed her eyes willing it all to go away but at the same time needing an explanation about why she felt like those few drops of water unleashed a longing so great within her.

"The truth comes out eventually," Edmund said sitting on the grass beside the bench, "and though people assume that when the thorn is taken from your side you should be relieved, they forget that it's when the blood is allowed to gush out of the wound."

"How is that relevant Edmund?" Susan said deadpan

"You never forgot Susan," he replied bluntly, "and you never will be able to."

"It doesn't exist. It's was all just a game of pretend. He does not exist." Susan repeated the well rehearsed lie but knew no one who heard it, even her, believed it anymore

She sighed and faced her brother. "I will learn how to forget for real Ed, I have to. It's the only way I will survive this world." Susan said, a hint of desperation lacing her voice

"Even knowing the truth, that you love him?"

"Saying his name does not mean I love him." Susan retorted unwilling to say it a second time

"Then why bother? Isn't it easier to accept him as part of the past, a part of history than make up an elaborate scheme that you have to keep up with every single day?" Edmund challenged

"No. It's not easier. You don't know how much regret I have to live with inside for not taking the chance to stay, for not even asking Aslan, and for saying those words to him that it would not work. I started lying even before I got here and I don't know how to stop Edmund." Susan said as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"You don't know how it is to wake up each day and know he doesn't exist in this world, that no matter how many corners I turn I won't find him here. You don't know what it feels like to lose something before you ever even had a chance to hold it in your arms and know for sure how right it would be. It's hard to live each day looking forward to the end of it, having the highlight of your day to be when you have to sleep because you're hoping that maybe in dreams you'll be with…." Susan frowned, her voice trailing off as something clicked in her mind. She could not place it but she felt bits and pieces flutter into place, the puzzle coming to life but not enough to clue her in completely.

Edmund noticed the change in his sister and turned to face her. He watched as Susan shook her head and frowned as if trying to make sense of things.

"Susan?" he said shaking her slightly

"Dreams…dreaming…dreams…"Susan said aloud ignoring Edmund

"Susan!" Edmund said loudly waking her from her stupor

"Oh!" Susan said snapping out of her trance and losing sight of the key that she held moments ago, "Look, Ed, just leave me alone for awhile. Just let me think. Please."

"Okay but chew on this too—forgetting Narnia and whoever we left behind isn't that simple. In the end, you're also choosing to forget your family and who you really are. Narnia is part of us Susan and the lies erase us from your life as well. Can you live with that? Can you live knowing that you're no longer the queen that Caspian fell in love with?"

Edmund stood up and walked away before Susan gave her whispered reply.

"_No, I cannot." _

_

* * *

  
_

Caspian was once again at the beginning of the end of the world. He faced the lady he had once told he would return for and he wondered why in the pit of his stomach he felt the weight of guilt. He looked around him and found nothing amiss. He knew this was right and this was where he should be but then why did he feel like he was breaking an oath?

"You are troubled, your majesty?" the lady inquired

"I am much anxious to return to Narnia." Caspian said by way of an excuse, unable to verbalize the feelings taking his insides for a spin

"Is that all, your majesty?" she pressed on gently

"Yes." Caspian replied simply

"Then, my king, what is preventing you from leaving post-haste?"

"There is something I must ask of you." Caspian said slowly, still unsure if he should proceed

"You wish to do something only a man with a free heart should make your majesty." Ramandu's daughter warned

"What do you mean my lady?" Caspian asked genuinely confused

"You must not let the question fall from your lips unless you are perfectly convinced of the future it will lead you to, not when there is still hope for what your heart sings for." Ramandu's daughter replied

The king remained silent trying to make sense of his emotions as he listened to her, as if something in his mind was trying to break free—a suppressed memory that was finding its way to the surface.

"Will you still ask what is in your mind if you find yourself in need of love only she can give? Will you still ask if I told you right now you can be the father of her children? Will you let the request leave your lips if in this moment she calls out for you to save her?"

Caspian opened his mouth to dispute the lady, intent on seeing things through, but his heart was flooded with emotion as his mind labeled the 'she' in question. Susan. He reeled from her statements, questions that struck a chord in him when they should have done nothing of the sort. His heart raced as it recognized the words but his brain was slower this time and it could not match things as he should have. Only flashes of a distant dream clouded his vision—a sunset, soft hair against his lips and a voice he longed to hear once more

The light touch of the lady on his arm woke him from his reverie, making him lose his train of thought and any hope of getting closer to the truth—at least for now.

"Do I even have a choice when you put it that way?" he said with an apologetic smile

"Hardly," she replied. She smiled at him sadly and looked wistfully at the Dawn Treader.

"Your ship is beautiful and I would have loved to have gone on it," she said softly, "I would have said yes and I will if you find the courage to ask, though I know you will not. When you turn your back on me, know this—our future is no longer bound but it is no guarantee for the happy ending you seek."

Caspian nodded and stood up to leave. "I apologize, my lady, for wasting your time; for sparing you from the request I originally intended to make. I leave you in peace and continue my voyage home. I pray someday we'll meet again and things will be different, maybe then I'll find the courage."

She watched from the shore as the Dawn Treader left and she sighed as it disappeared slowly in the distance.

"There is no someday for us Caspian. The only courage you'll need now is to trust your love for the queen or all will be lost and you would have doomed all three of us to a lifetime of loneliness. Let me be the only one with a broken heart in the end. Farewell, my love."


	3. Just a heartbeat away

**Just a heartbeat away**

**Disclaimer: The characters and other things from The Chronicles of Narnia don't belong to me (sadly). Credit goes to those who do own them.**

Susan's eyes flew open in surprise as her bed beneath her rocked and immediately panic rose in her throat. Visions of the war, earthquakes and other disasters sprang to mind as she stumbled out from under the covers to rouse Lucy from her sleep. However, silence reigned as she got her footing and she realized it was the lull of the ocean.

"_Ocean?" _Susan wondered in her mind, letting her eyes adjust to her surroundings.

She was in a dimly lit cabin of a ship that seemed to be moving gently in the night. In seconds, a smile lit her face as her memory fell into place. She was overjoyed that they would meet twice this month, only a day apart no less. She ran out through the open door searching for her king heading towards the deck above.

King Caspian was leaning on the railing, his head hung low. Susan took a deep breath before opening to call him.

"_Caspian!" _her mind screamed and yet she could not hear her own voice. There was no sound that escaped her. She lifted her hand to her throat only to find she was of no more substance than the thinnest fabric. Her eyes widened in alarm, frantically looking at the rest of her, wondering what was going on.

It was then that Caspian straightened up and lifted his head to the heavens. With closed eyes he breathed out a single word, a name—"Susan."

"_I'm right here!" _Susan thought, attempting to create a scream. She walked towards him but as she reached out it was as if there was an invisible barrier that kept her from even touching him with her gossamer hands.

She fell to her knees, exhausted with the effort, with her tears vanishing before they hit the ground.

"I love you, Susan."

His voice cut the night loud and clear, as if he was speaking directly to her instead of the blackness of the ocean that surrounded the Dawn Treader.

"_I love you too." _Susan whispered softly as the wind rocked the boat gently.

Caspian's head shot up, as if he heard her, and he looked around wildly searching for the faint voice that held an answered prayer.

The queen held still on the floor, watching her king pace inches from where she was. She waited for him to cross that line but he never did. It was as if someone drew a line between them, the thinnest but strongest of walls.

"I am sorry, dear one."

"Aslan!" they both said in unison, neither hearing the other

Side by side, without touching, without seeing the other, they knelt before the great lion.

"What do you mean? What are you apologizing for?" Caspian said, voicing out the question that was stuck in Susan's throat

"For your pain, for the confusion that rages in your heart and the destiny that you should have been allowed to make." Aslan said, his eyes steady on Caspian but the small nod to the left stilled Susan's heart.

"_You know I'm here." _Susan thought, wondering if the lion could hear

Another small nod and what seemed to be a sigh escaped Aslan. Susan felt like her world was spinning out of control but she struggled to keep her composure as the great lion continued.

"There is only one comfort I can leave you with—the truth. There is a magic far greater than all the worlds combined, the true source of life and this is governed by a power that can allow a future that never should have existed."

Caspian clenched his jaw as he fought to understand but his emotional state was warring with his logic and he could do nothing but shake his head, frustrated with himself.

"Tell me, dear one, have you ever been in a place where you should not be? With someone who shouldn't be in your life? "

"_The dreams..."_ Susan whispered

"But they're just dreams..." Caspian countered instinctively

Susan froze and turned quickly to Aslan, who merely smiled.

"Love is that which can unravel the world as we know it but it is also a choice. A leap of faith to trust in its power and to believe it is real. Otherwise it really is no more than a dream."

With one last bittersweet smile, the great lion roared.

Susan blinked and in that split second the world was still. There was no rocking, there was no sound but the steady breathing of her sister and there was no king beside her.

She sat up and looked around fully awake. Susan looked down at her hands—white, calloused and whole. She walked towards the window and opened it to the cool night air. She sighed, her disappointment in seeing the garden instead of the ocean was palpable—even to the king she could not see, the one who was watching her from the stone bench as the words of Aslan lingered in his mind.

* * *

**A/N:Been awhile :) Short update but hopefully will be followed by a longer one soon. Hope the muses stay with me on this one and I hope you enjoy reading!**


	4. Shattered

**Shattered**

**Disclaimer: The characters and other things from The Chronicles of Narnia don't belong to me (sadly). Credit goes to those who do own them.**

The king had no questions about where he was, how and why. It did not matter. None of it, as long as he could continue to gaze up at his queen from where he stood beneath the moon of their world.

Caspian sighed, unable to comfort Susan who stood by the window—a perfect picture of disappointment. It wasn't as if he did want to call out to her or run to her. His mind directed his body to move but it was as if an invisible force kept him still and silent. So he watched her—the only thing he could do and for now it was enough.

Susan had lost weight and he saw this as her clothes hung loosely on her frame. Her eyes were sunken and dark. Everything about her screamed she was tired, even the tears that trailed slowly down her face. She took one deep breath after another, eyes closed, willing herself to get a grip on her emotions. He watched Susan sit on the window sill, fear momentarily gripping him as she almost lost her balance. He gasped aloud, his hand flying to his throat as the sound escaped. For a split second, he thought she noticed he was there but as her expression settled into a somber mood he felt the hope die as quickly as it flickered alive.

For hours he watched her, the moonlight just enough for him to see her clearly from afar. Caspian smiled to himself and realized that in all of the time he knew her, he had never stopped to just look at her. From the stories of his childhood, the awe of their first meeting, her grace in battle and even in dreams, he believed in her beauty more than saw it as a reality. But now, even in sadness, she took his breath away.

She was not physically perfect, that he knew, far from it even. If pressed, he would be able to name flaws but the point was he didn't want to. But it was her grace and the life that she breathed into her features that made her breathtaking. She possessed a light within her that lit up even her imperfections and transformed it into something that would inspire. Even with her eyes as empty and lost as they were now, he found her to be beautiful.

It was then the king fell in love for the woman that Susan was. Before, he loved the queen who surpassed both legend and myth. Then he met and fell for the warrior who showed him how to be a man. It was only now that he saw her humanity—raw and full of emotions, someone who could share a life with him, someone who could be his partner until the end of all the days.

"Susan?" Lucy's soft voice drifted over to where he was still frozen in place, "Are you alright?"

Susan hastily wiped away her tears, "Yes, I was just waiting for the sunrise. Go back to bed, Lucy. I'll wake you up when it's time for breakfast. You can sleep in. It's Saturday."

Lucy stood beside her sister and looked outside the open window, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She blinked hard as her eyes glazed over the stone bench, wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her. She looked again and no one was there. The younger girl shrugged and silently made her way back to bed but Susan's attention was already where her sister's gaze had wandered.

The knot in her stomach twisted further and she clawed her mind, trying to grasp at the missing fragments of her dream—the one that caused this feeling of great disappointment. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration, eyes never leaving the bench, wondering what she was missing.

She shook her head in frustration, grumbling as she turned away from the horizon that had just begun to lighten, closing the window behind her. Susan padded down the stairs and began to make breakfast, setting places for everyone, making it picture perfect for when they finally left their warm beds to start the day. She kept her hands busy, hoping her mind would follow suit but her mind had a will of its own and kept wandering outside.

Caspian was still immobile, trapped in his invisible prison, as he listened intently to her steady movements inside the kitchen. He felt her frustration with every loud clatter of plates and the occasional sigh. He wanted to believe she was acting up because she could feel his presence. Without realizing it, their eyes had met—right when Lucy turned and her attention became riveted on the lone bench in their backyard. But the pieces of the moment were just broken fragments in her mind and she could not find anything to connect it all.

His eyes widened in surprise as she stepped out in a flurry of movement, the door swinging wide open as she walked hurriedly outside, plate in hand. Unwittingly, she sat down next to him as she stared at her plate thinking why she even brought it out when her appetite was never up to it to begin with.

Susan closed her eyes and felt her frantic state began to dissipate into a calm that she didn't expect. Caspian watched her shoulders relax as her heart slowed to a normal pace, her breathing matching the steady rhythm.

"Why can't I believe my lies long enough to really forget you?" Susan whispered softly to herself

"_Because the truth is enough to get us through, it brought me here." _Caspian thought silently as his voice was still lost

"Why can't I just accept you've probably gotten married and are happy now?"

"_Because you know you're the only one." _Caspian said, continuing his silent side of the conversation

"Why can't I let you go?"

"_Because you love me… because _**I**_ love you." _The king said, finally, aloud.

Susan turned and looked at him, but Caspian knew she couldn't see him. Not really but the way she tilted her head and squinted at the tree behind him was almost as if there was something blocking her vision of the old oak. But then she shook her head and laughed bitterly.

"I'm losing my mind. I must miss him that much." Susan said softly, a tear rolling down her cheek, "Caspian, I love you."

The king raised his hand out of instinct and brushed the stray tear away, his heart bleeding for the queen.

The tear never reached the ground.

Susan stared straight ahead, willing herself to stay still as the touch lingered on her cheek. Slowly, she allowed her hand to move, finding its way to the other which comforted her. Her heart wanted to beat itself out of her chest and in that same second, Caspian finally realized what he had managed to do.

Her fingers closed in on the hand that still held the lone tear from her eyes. She gripped it tighter as more tears fought their way to the surface, her lips trembling with disbelief that she held something she longed to touch for so long. Finally.

"How…?" she asked aloud

"I don't know." Caspian replied, wishing she would face him, but he settled for lowering their hands and placing his other hand over hers, "It's not important. Not to me," he said with a smile in his voice mingled with equal parts relief and happiness

"Is," she began hesitantly, still looking straight ahead, "this real?"

"I think so." Caspian said, unsure whether he was dreaming or he was just part of hers, but the feeling of her hand in his changed his mind, "Yes, yes it must be."

They sat in breathless silence, afraid that the moment would end all too soon. In perfect sync, they closed their eyes without meaning to and the images they had always assumed to be mere dreams now had the stamp of truth and reality, holding tight to each other.

Susan saw flashes of their borrowed time in the past months, the landscape changing each time. The conversations rang in her ear like a recording, her own laughter echoing in the reel. This history was calm but it sped back to the battle, the chance meeting and even further back into her first foray into Narnia. But then she saw images that weren't her own, things much older that her. The world was spinning back to the beginning and the last she saw was a blast of light and the feeling of warmth and security that spread through her as a lion's roar resonated in her mind. It was what she felt for Caspian, multiplied a thousand times over that she felt overwhelmed. Her eyes flew open and automatically turned to face the man who held her hand and her heart.

She found nothing. Susan looked at her upturned palm. It was empty.

But the truth kept her from falling apart, it made her strong enough. Susan was ready to fight. Aslan's words made sense now.

Caspian is real. Narnia is real. She loves him. She believes in all of this and in the life she can have with him—in Narnia. It's not just a dream. It's all _**real.**_

And in that moment, every future that was written in the beginning of time shattered as if it was blown up by a great explosion, a force so great it could not be held back any longer.

Susan noticed something lying on the bench where Caspian was a few moments earlier. Her fingers closed on a familiar object and she held it up for a closer inspection. The smooth curve was the same and she knew the sound it would make would be a perfect match to memory.

"Susan?" Peter said, walking towards her a concerned expression on his face that turned slowly into shock as he recognized what was in her hand

"My horn." Susan said simply

"I can see that, what is it doing here?" Peter asked, his voice rising a few decibels in surprise, unable to process what he was seeing

"I think it's my way back," Susan said slowly a smile forming on her face.

History—past, present and future, all unraveled and the queen now held her life in her hands.

Anything can happen now.


End file.
